In the Billy as angel camp there are those who remember him as fiercely loyal, a brave and reliable soldier fighting on behalf of ranchers who were being railroaded by city folks. On the other side there is Sheriff Pat Garrett, employed by the big city interests to clear the county of riff-raff. The city interests won and per usual wrote most of the history so that Billy comes off as a bad man. In time Hollywood weighed in and Billy, of melodic name, began to appear again and again on the big screen, his motives and character always-soft clay in the hands of scriptwriters.
In the later stages of his brief life he made a single exception to the rule “if you shoot me I shoot you.” The exception was to let a photographer make a daguerreotype image. In it he appears young, almost innocent save for the rifle.
This image was recently sold at auction for $2.3 million. The buyer no doubt bought a symbol rather than an image. In doing so Billy may have provided some further evidence that he is still stealing from the rich. Certainly Mr. Koch, the Tea Party billionaire, paid a pretty penny for a pretty picture.
The world’s most expensive photographs at auction:
1 Untitled #96 by Cindy Sherman. Sold for $3.8m at Christies, New York in May 2011.
2 99 Cent II Dipychon by Andreas Gursky. Sold for $3.3m at Sotheby's, London, in February 2007.
3 The Pond Moonlight taken in 1904 by Edward Steichen. Sold for $2.92m at Sotheby's, New York in February 2006.
4 Billy the Kid tintype, circa 1880. Sold for $2.3m at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction, June 2011.
5 Kremlin of Tobolsk taken in 2009 by Dmitry Medvedev. Sold for $1.75m at a charity auction in St. Petersberg in January 2010.
6. Nude taken in 1925 by Edward Weston sold for $1.6m at Sotheby's, New York in January 2008.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern Now through July 10, 2025
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.
DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
Freeman’s | Hindman Western Manuscripts and Miniatures July 8, 2025
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.